Commenting Guidelines
Welcome to the Los Angeles Times commenting community. Please help us maintain civility and focus, both by keeping comments respectful and on-topic and by alerting us to comments that don’t live up to that expectation.
By commenting on latimes.com, you agree to abide by our standards of conduct, which are laid out in our full Terms of Service.
Here’s the quick version: We hope you will throw yourself into debates in the comments section of the articles you read. Be as critical or as laudatory as you like. But treat other commenters and the articles’ subjects and authors the way you’d like to be treated. Be respectful — not profane, offensive or inflammatory. Be relevant and original. If there’s an error in an article, report it. Don’t use the comments section to pitch products or websites. And don’t upload an image or a video unless it’s one of yours.
Learn more in our Terms of Service about our policy for reader-submitted content and the ways in which we may reuse it.
Please follow these five guidelines when commenting on our site:
1. Be relevant
Discuss the story and stay on topic. (Blatantly promotional commercial messages are not allowed.)
2. Be respectful
Keep things civil. Avoid abusive or offensive language, threats, hate speech, libel, personal attacks and calls for violence. And please, don’t make jokes about the misfortunes of others. Imagine it was your loved one in the story and show some restraint.
3. Be honest
Use your own identity; don’t pose as another person. Don’t publish copyrighted material that belongs to someone else.
4. Be discreet
Don’t publish telephone numbers, addresses or other personal information about yourself or others.
5. Be responsible
Think about what you’ve written before submitting the comment. And please help us moderate by flagging comments that violate these guidelines. (Click on “Comment” to open a panel that allows you to flag comments as inappropriate.)
Commenting terms of use
Commenting is a privilege that can be revoked for violations of our terms of use. Inappropriate comments may be deleted. Users who violate the guidelines will be banned from commenting, with their previous comments subject to deletion.
The site is moderated at the sole discretion of The Times, as laid out in the Terms of Service. Because of the volume of reader comments, we generally cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.
Your comments become the property of the Los Angeles Times, and we may contact commenters as part of our news reporting.
Users are solely responsible for what they post and can be held responsible for violations of the law. The Los Angeles Times cannot verify the content of comments and does not vouch for their accuracy.
Complete Terms and Conditions
View the Los Angeles Times’ complete Terms of Use and Privacy Statement.
FAQs
Q: How do I leave a comment?
A: You must first register. If you are already registered, log into the Los Angeles Times website by clicking “log in” in the upper-right corner. Then, at the bottom of an article selected for commenting, type and post your comment.
Q: Why is there no comments field on the story I am looking at?
A: We will not allow comments on all articles. We will select a few articles each day to have community discussions about. We are doing this because we want to have robust conversations that include our editorial staff. We are experimenting with the number of articles we allow commenting on and the length of time we keep that conversation open. Please send your feedback to the Reader Representative.
Q: How do I report abuse?
A: Below each comment is a report button. Click that button to flag the comment and to let us know why you are reporting it.
Q: How do I ignore a commenter?
A: Click or tap on a user’s name in the comments. Click or tap “Ignore User.” Click or tap “Ignore User” again.
To un-ignore:
Click on “My Profile” at the top of the comments, go to “Settings,” scroll down to ‘Ignored Users,’ Click the x next to the name you want to un-ignore.
Q: How do I praise a comment?
A: Below each comment is a respect button. if you think someone left a helpful or interesting comment, click “respect.” We are purposefully using respect instead of like because we can all respect a good point, even if we don’t like it.
Q: Why is my comment not appearing on the site?
A: Comments will sometimes be pre-moderated, which means they will be held until one of our moderators is able to read and approve them. On these occasions, there will typically be a note at the beginning of the comment thread to explain why the conversation is being pre-moderated. Also, at times, certain banned words or other issues may prevent a comment from going live.
Q: Can I edit my comment?
A: Yes, you can. There is an edit button that allows you to edit your comments for typos in the first few moments after the post. You must be quick, however, because the editing capabilities are disabled about a minute after submitting your post.
Q: What if I make a comment and want to delete it, and it is past the allowable editing period?
A: First of all, try not to comment in anger. And tread carefully with humor, because words don’t come across the same way in writing as they do in person. That being said, you can contact the reader representative for consideration. Make sure to include a link to the comment for review and the reason you want it deleted.
Q: Can I send a link to my comment?
A: Yes, you can. Click on the “share” link below your comment, and you will get a URL that you can share with another.
Q: How do I know if a comment came from someone working for the L.A. Times?
A: All L.A. Times staff members’ names will have the same “staff badge” displayed next to their name.
Q: Why are there featured comments?
A: Those are comments chosen by our editorial staff that we feel should be prominently displayed. We’ll feature comments that we think are insightful, offer an expert’s perspective or shine a light on something we missed in the article.
Q: How do I know if someone replies to my comment?
A: Go to the “My Profile” tab to see your own comment history, as well as reactions and replies to your comments. If you would like to be notified when someone has replied to one of your comments, you can opt in for notifications.
